Kyrie Irving sat out on Tuesday, concerning his fantasy managers, Terance Mann came into Tuesday night hot, and several fantasy GMs are worried about the trade deadline impacting their fantasy players. Also, do you remember joining Twitter? Some of us do. This week's mailbag will answer all of your questions.
Kyrie Irving is resting because it's just the Spurs... right? - Monding (@mondinglasan)
Answer: I would like to think so, but if he wasn't hurt the plan sure backfired, as the Spurs handled the Nets 106-98 last night. The good news is that we haven't heard anything else about the injury other than it being called calf "soreness" and he'll now get to rest until Thursday's game against the Suns. And yes, given that the Spurs had lost five straight games and eight of their previous nine, we're all hoping that this was simply a precautionary move. My guess is Irving will be back out there on Thursday. If he's actually hurt and misses more time, the Nets are (obviously) in big trouble.
In a 9-cat league with FG and FT made instead of percentages. Would you rather have Bogdan Bogdanovic or Trey Murphy III? - Henrique Netto (@henriquenettoo)
Answer: Bogdan is in a shooting slump right now, hitting 4-of-20 shots over his last two games (which the Hawks somehow won). He's averaging 15.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.3 blocks, 1.3 turnovers and is shooting a career-low 41.9 percent from the field and hitting 1.2
Kyrie Irving sat out on Tuesday, concerning his fantasy managers, Terance Mann came into Tuesday night hot, and several fantasy GMs are worried about the trade deadline impacting their fantasy players. Also, do you remember joining Twitter? Some of us do. This week's mailbag will answer all of your questions.
Kyrie Irving is resting because it's just the Spurs... right? - Monding (@mondinglasan)
Answer: I would like to think so, but if he wasn't hurt the plan sure backfired, as the Spurs handled the Nets 106-98 last night. The good news is that we haven't heard anything else about the injury other than it being called calf "soreness" and he'll now get to rest until Thursday's game against the Suns. And yes, given that the Spurs had lost five straight games and eight of their previous nine, we're all hoping that this was simply a precautionary move. My guess is Irving will be back out there on Thursday. If he's actually hurt and misses more time, the Nets are (obviously) in big trouble.
In a 9-cat league with FG and FT made instead of percentages. Would you rather have Bogdan Bogdanovic or Trey Murphy III? - Henrique Netto (@henriquenettoo)
Answer: Bogdan is in a shooting slump right now, hitting 4-of-20 shots over his last two games (which the Hawks somehow won). He's averaging 15.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.3 blocks, 1.3 turnovers and is shooting a career-low 41.9 percent from the field and hitting 1.2 three-pointers per game in just 20 appearances.
Murphy checks in at 41 games, 12.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 0.8 turnovers and 1.6 three-pointers on 40.3 percent shooting and he's hitting 1.8 free throws per game.
And as much as Bogdanovic's injury history scares me, you also have to think Brandon Ingram (toe) will eventually come back and play at some point, which would, theoretically, hurt Murphy. After this week, the Hawks have just four four-game weeks left on their schedule and the Pelicans have five.
It's pretty close but I think I'd rather have Murphy and his health, as the numbers are pretty similar. And there are no guarantees that Ingram is going to return any time soon. Regardless of which guy you end up holding, it seems feasible that you might be able to stream that position each week and just grab a hot hand off of waivers. But if I was going to roll the dice on one of them, it would be Murphy.
Trade deadline is coming. What is your fantasy outlook on Fred VanVleet, Walker Kessler and John Collins? - Illgobbo (@Illgobbo)
Answer: There's not really much of a reason to stress over the trade deadline, in my opinion. Half of the guys rumored to be on the move will stay put and there's no way to know if a trade will help or hurt a player until we actually know where they're going. FVV is absolutely on fire (he had 39 on Tuesday), Kessler is much better in reality and fantasy than we thought he would be this early in his career and Collins could probably use a change of scenery to rejuvenate his career. All three are established in their current roles and should see similar usage regardless of where they land. I'd simply stick with all three of them if they were on my team.
What's Bradley Beal's rest-of-season value? I just traded for him. - Michael Jennings (@Jeno09)
Answer: I've never been a big Beal guy and his missed games have become a major headache. Beal has missed eight of the last nine games but is expected to return for Wednesday night's contest. You likely traded for him because his GM's asking price was lowered given all the missed games, and Beal still has time to turn his season around and have a nice second half.
Then again, the Wizards have just 18 wins and sit as the No. 12 seed in the East. As soon as they fall all the way out of the playoff race, Beal will become a shutdown candidate. If they go on a run and flirt with the playoffs you might be fine, but there's a reason that Beal was on the trade block in your league (and most others). And I'm afraid we're looking at more missed games and a potential shutdown for one of the league's best shooting guards.
If I were you, I'd wait for him to get healthy and go on a tear, and then move him for a more reliable option.
Terance Mann with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard back. How does he look for this week? - Ricardo Llorens (@llorens_ricardo)
Answer: Mann went crazy on Sunday with 31 points and five triples on 12-of-16 shooting with George in street clothes. The good news is that both Kawhi Leonard and George played on Tuesday and Mann stuck in the starting five and played well (12 points, three rebounds, four assists, two triples) near the end of the third quarter. His confidence is brimming and Mann has become a key player for the Clippers, ruining Norman Powell along the way. We won't see many more nights like he had on Sunday, but he will hopefully be a solid fantasy option the rest of the way.
Should I still hold onto Bol Bol or should I just cut ties? - Cheeto Jackson (@SheikYurbotty)
Answer: The health protocols shut down really hurt Bol and he wasn't playing all that well before that happened. Additionally, Jonathan Isaac might finally appear and further hurt Bol's minutes and chances for production. I'll believe that one when I see it, but Bol went off for 17 points, six rebounds and a steal on Sunday against his former team, the Nuggets.
I think I'd give him the rest of this week and if he doesn't get it going before the All-Star break (or sooner), it's probably time to drop him and hit the waiver wire. But I do think I'd wait another week or two before making the move. Sunday was at least promising.
In a points keeper league, should I trade Karl-Anthony Towns and picks for Giannis Antetokounmpo for the rest of the season and next year? - Kruzkii (@djkurzkil)
Answer: Giannis' knee constantly worries me but KAT hasn't exactly been a beacon of health in three of his last four seasons. When you add in the picks you'd potentially be getting, my answer is 'yes.' Trade KAT for Giannis and don't look back.
How bad does that Walker Kessler trade look for the Timberwolves now? - Simon James (@nzbradstevens)
Answer: Kessler was technically with the Wolves for a few days after the draft before being jettisoned to the Jazz in the Rudy Gobert deal. He took out some revenge on Minnesota with 20 points, 21 rebounds, four dimes and two blocks in the win. It also didn't help that Gobert left the game after just five minutes with a groin injury, which is never good.
Kessler is averaging 12.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.6 blocks over his last five games. Meanwhile, Gobert -- and his bad groin -- is averaging just 13.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in his 39 games this season, most of which he hasn't had to deal with Karl-Anthony Towns playing next to him.
All of Gobert's numbers are down from his previous four seasons and the disappearance of his blocked shots is one of this season's great mysteries. Kessler has shown incredible promise and been much better thus far than most of us thought possible. In short, it looks bad. Really bad.
The Hawks will trade Clint Capela, won't they? He's practically the same player as Onyeka Okongwu except older and more expensive. - Joey (@elpiojo86)
Answer: Capela is on the books until 2024-25 and the Hawks could benefit from the loss of his salary while just letting Okongwu do his thing for the rest of his rookie deal. I would like to think the Hawks will move him at the deadline but it may not be that easy to find a trade partner, as Capela is owed more than $21 million over each of his next two seasons. But if the Hawks don't try to trade Capela, they're doing something wrong.
Do you remember when you joined Twitter? I've come a long way since nightly tweet/chatting the NBA season with @Docktora in the early days. - Kenny Williams (@ksw2011)
Answer: I do remember joining Twitter! Back in April of 2009, fantasy hoops legend Rick Kamla was living at my house with my family while he looked for a place to live in Atlanta after Turner bought NBA TV. If memory serves correctly, we both joined Twitter at the same time in my family room and we were each other's first follows.
My life changed rather drastically that day, as the NBA news cycle went from being a morning newspapers and afternoon updates thing to a 24-hour free-for-all. And yes, @KSW2011, I clearly remember our early interactions on our new toy. Like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter but still have a good chuckle when I tell a college kid I'm verified.
I had no idea that was a big deal until my kids and some of the local college students started freaking out about it when they found out. It's the little things, I guess.
